Quantum Life Bodywork News

I am no drunkard, but I am no saint either. A medicine man shouldn’t be a saint. He should experience and feel all the ups and downs, the despair and the joy, the magic and the reality, the courage and fear of his people. He should be able to sink as low as a bug or soar like an eagle. You have to be God and the devil, both of them. Being a good medicine man means being right in the midst of the turmoil, not shielding yourself from it. It means experiencing life in all its phases. It means not being afraid of cutting up and playing the fool now and then. That’s sacred too.

JOHN (FIRE) LAME DEER (SIOUX MEDICINE MAN OF THE LAKOTA TRIBE)

Ⓒ Liz Thompson

I will be in Sydney for a healing gathering on that city’s magnificent Northern Beaches on Saturday, December 11.

The focus of the day will be the exploration of the place of individual healing within the healing of the group and ultimately society, and how that healing has an essential connection with the healing of country. In the space of the day there will be the opportunity for individual unfolding within the shared space of the group, and an examination of what that requires in terms of “payment” to the earth.

Numbers will be limited, in order to provide a balance between the individual and group processes, and we will be warmly held in a delightful space overlooking Whale Beach.

Please call or use the contact form to register your interest in attending, and I will be in touch with further details.

For the Earth.

Simon

It is with great joy in our hearts that we write to update our community with news that the criminal charges against Taita Juan have been dropped as of today, November 16, 2010. At some point within the next couple of days, the court will begin the process of transferring Taita Juan out of prison and into the immigration authorities who will make arrangements for his return to Colombia. We will have more details by the end of today, in the meantime thank you again for keeping this prayer alive and strong. We did it!

[From Free Taita Juan]

In a wonderful example of triumph over tyranny, news that Taita Juan Agreda Chindoy had charges against him dropped on November the 16th, and will soon be returned to Colombia, possibly as early as this weekend.

I spoke with Taita Juan’s apprentice Selina by telephone in California last week, in the hope of presenting that interview here, but significant technological difficulties have made that alas impossible. She was unable to speak in detail of the legal situation, but we hoped to speak again this week with what she intimated may be hopeful news. This is obviously the best possible outcome in a ludicrous miscarriage of justice.

Selina spoke of the gratitude felt for the community about the world who’s support had bouyed spirits and defence funds, but also of the fact that this had been a humbling experience for all involved. Whilst she granted that there was indeed a greater purpose to the situation in which Taita Juan and his supporters had found themselves embroiled, we did also speak at some length about the terrible imposition of incarceration upon a man with such freedom of spirit as Taita Juan. I learned, for example, in the conversation that the rules of the US Federal prisons meant that only immediate family are permitted to visit, and that Taita Juan had therefore had been unable to receive any physical visitations during his time incarcerated.

Colombian radio station Caracol reports that Taita Juan’s wife is, understandably, overjoyed at the news

El taita Agreda regresara a su hogar en el municipio de Sibundoy Putumayo, este fin de semana según lo señalado por su esposa María del Carmen Chicunque, quien mostro su alegría por la liberación de su esposo.

[From En libertad el Taita Juan Bautista Agreda]

more information [in English], is provided here;

Federal authorities have dismissed charges against a Colombian medicine man detained at a Houston airport with vials of a potent hallucinogen.
Angela Dodge, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Houston, said Tuesday that the felony charge against Juan Agreda-Chindoy, 42, was dismissed “in the interest of justice.”

[From Charges dropped against Colombian medicine man | Houston & Texas News | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle]

I hope to speak with Selina again, to gain her’s and Taita Juan’s perspective of the ordeal post facto.

Let us continue to offer our energies to the changing of these repressive legislations that prohibit the pursuit of our chosen spiritual paths, in the hope that one day people may be afforded the opportunity to sit down in ceremony with these Sacred Medicines and the keepers of the traditions thereof, in peace, liberty and harmony.

ScienceDaily (Nov. 1, 2010) — A new system that ranks drugs on the basis of harm caused to both the user and others places alcohol as the most harmful drug, above heroin and crack. The scale, developed by drug experts led by Professor David Nutt of Imperial College London, is published online in The Lancet.

[From Alcohol 'most harmful drug', according to multicriteria analysis]

Somewhat topically, given reports of Ayahuasquero’s facing twenty years in prison for the possession Sacred Medicine, Science Daily reports that state sanctioned drug alcohol is the most damaging drug for both the individual and society. Whilst alcohol is less harmful for the individual than Heroin, Crack and Crystal Meth, the study deemed it overall as at least more than twice as harmful as Crystal meth, cocaine, tobacco, amphetamine/speed, cannabis, GHB, benzodiazepines, ketamine, methadone, mephedrone, butane, khat, ecstacy, anabolic steroids, LSD, buprenorphine and mushrooms.

Consider the amount of money spent “combatting” the latter drugs, and the amount extolling in advertising the glamour of alcohol and one can see that there is something seriously awry with the common cultural viewpoint apropos “drugs”. Is this a case of mere misunderstanding?

In a recent post on Taita Juan, I referenced an arrest of Santo Daime members in the UK. Consider the language used in the commercial media about that case;

A COUPLE have been arrested on suspicion of importing a powerful drug linked to a secretive religion, following a police raid on a Dartington home.

Officers from the Serious and Organised Crime Investigation Team headed up the raid which seized what is believed to be a quantity of ayahuasca — a liquid which contains the powerful hallucinogenic dimethyltryptamine, also known as DMT, a designated Class A drug in this country….The drug comes in the form of a brown liquid. Police have refused to say where they are keeping the drug until it can be analysed. However it is being stored in special bio hazard bags. Det Sgt Gilroy explained: “At the moment we don’t know how potent it is.”

or more general media coverage here;

Santo Daime: the drug-fuelled religion
A new religion is spreading to Britain – its central sacrament the consumption of a hallucinogenic Class A drug. Here’s a report from the faith’s heartland in the rainforests of the Amazon

[From Santo Daime: the drug-fuelled religion - Times Online]

or here;

The lost and depressed turn to Peruvian ayahuasca rituals for guidance. A Peruvian potion called ayahuasca is drawing foreigners searching for guidance, insight, relief from trauma or a spiritual high

IQUITOS, PERU — Kevin Simmons, a 28-year-old Chicago native, said he “was stuck” — depressed, locked away in his home and taking more than a year to even open his e-mail.

[From Peruvian hallucinogen ayahuasca draws tourists seeking transforming experience]

In that latest article the lack attention to journalistic standards shows clearly in the image of a Huachumero in front of his mesa taking something, possibly Cimora from a shell into his nostril, captioned;

Peruvian Andean soothsayer Erick Caceres, 38, inhales ayahuasca through a shell during a ceremony where soothsayers announce their visions, in the central Lima district of Rimac. A range of healing centers perform rituals related to the potion.

“Soothsayer”, “potion”! Does the Washington Post purport not to understand the pejorative weight of those words in that context? Such kinds of “reporting” shows at least a lack of desire to understand the issues at hand, and at worst a clear attempt to obfuscate and manipulate popular opinion.

There have been a number of studies showing the individual and societal benefits of the Sacred Medicines, and it is these stories that we need to ensure also populate the mainstream media. Not just the stories of “drug arrests” and “ayahausca tourism” disasters, but stories of the immense capacities to heal and correct imbalance that these Teacher Plants offer us. These stories need to be presented as they are, as stories of hope and of individuals making personal and cultural changes for the better, for the healthier, for the more balanced. They need to be told in a manner accessible to other members of that culture, be it the UK, the US, Australia, Spain, or Sweden..

Certainly those stories exist, and in the mainstream media as well. I’ve referenced prior this article in the National Geographic which details an adventurer and writer’s struggle with depression, and the efficacy if not difficulty of her experience with curing in a Peruvian Ayahuasca ritual. There’s another here at the ABC. I’m sure there’s many more…and the potential for many, many more. Please let me know if you have any to share and in that sharing let us change the, seemingly manipulated, public perception and thus this absurd near global prohibition on the practice of this ancient medicinal and spiritual art and science.

I had wanted to speak with Jeremy personally, as with my conversations thus far with Susun Weed and Steve Beyer, but for a variety of reasons that has yet to occur. In the interim, it seems topical given recent posts, I have to share an interview graciously offered by creative collaborator Liz Thompson, recorded at Nayri Niari Festival, on Bruny Island, Tasmania.

Jeremy running a dance workshop with children at the Nayri Niari Festival, Bruny Island Tasmania

© Liz Thompson

Jeremy is descended from the Kuku-Yalanji tribe and travels widely to share his love of, and desire for broader transmission of, his cultural heritage. Jeremy is an acclaimed Yidaki player, visual artist, keynote speaker and healer. His bio on his website here says

In 2009 Jeremy rebirthed his performing and arts career. Jeremy has once again become very focussed on the development of his music, art and sharing his intimate knowledge of Traditional Healing and Sacred Ceremony. Jeremy is determined to share with others the Sacredness of his Culture to help break down the walls of ignorance. While working with youth is no longer Jeremy’s fulltime focus, Jeremy will still travel to remote communities working with youth development. Jeremy will also maintain a close working relationship with those youth living in the Urban areas who are battling with their Identity the same battle Jeremy once faced. 2010 has seen Jeremy work Alongside the Dalai Lama, Louise Hay, Wayne Dywer, Greg Braden and Rev Michael Beckwith. As Jeremy establishes himself as a leading voice for the people. Jeremy has an ability that when he speaks or performs it evokes emotions in all of the Audience.

The following offering is made with an example of Jeremy’s interpretation of his traditional music at the outset, and in closing is held by an icaro offered by Don Lucho, from that culture of medicine which Jeremy explains has offered him much by way of personal healing.

Thanks to Liz, Jeremy and Don Lucho for allowing this cross cultural sharing.

download

Help Free A Major Indigenous Leader Imprisoned in the U.S.

On Tuesday, October 19, 2010, indigenous Colombian healer Taita Juan Agreda Chindoy was detained in the Houston International Airport. He was formally arrested by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) for possession of his traditional medicine Ayahuasca. He is now being charged as a federal criminal and is facing up to 20 years in federal prison.

[From Free Taita Juan]

On a not so positive note, and speaking of Indigenous leaders and holders of Traditional knowledge, some sad news from the US recently is detailed at the website above. It is heartening to see the explosion of support for Taita Juan in the social media networks and, I am sure, in the material realm.

Whilst the expression of outrage is understandable, Taita Juan’s arrest serves as a reminder to all who actively participate in ceremonial relationship with the Sacred Medicines. In most countries in the world these plant sacraments, absurdly in my own opinion, remain prohibited by law with extreme penalties for their possession and ingestion. It behooves all who have an interest or relationship with these plants to acquaint themselves with the local and federal legislations which pertain to the plants usage in their country. Whilst it is true that the Teacher Plants can offer protection to individuals and groups, there are aways opposing forces and as Steve Beyer highlights in his excellent Singing to the Plants, the realm of Curanderismo [at least in the regions from which Taita Juan hails] deals explicitly with both the light and the dark. Protection in this context is hard won and requires vigilance.

A recent arrest of Santo Daime members in the UK, arrests in Chile and less recently in Australia amongst others show that, although some jurisdictions have a more mature perspective, the brutality of the state can still be swiftly and unfortunately brought to bear on those whose aims and actions may be of great integrity.

Whilst personal work with the Sacred Medicines is imperative and civil disobedience, as Martin Luther King, Gandhi and others have shown, is at times a necessity, the only way we can prevent this kind of travesty from occurring is to work towards the change of legislation that makes it possible in the first first place. Overt public civil disobedience has historically shown to have a high cost for the individuals involved, forcing as it does, the hand of the imperial power of the time. Let us work towards a world in which we who revere the possibilities for healing afforded by these Sacred Medicines can sit down openly and peacefully throughout the world to celebrate our chosen spiritual expression.

My voice joins others in the cry for a rapid, gentle resolution to this terrible situation for Taita Juan. My prayers are with him.